In celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month in April Provisions Market (Chef Greg Daniels) and OC Baking Company (Dean Kim) will join forces to once again host The Big Cheese, Orange County’s grilled cheese festival and competition. Event Co-Founder Greg Daniels and his fellow Orange County Chefs will compete for the title of “TheBig Cheese” on Monday, April 20th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Provisions Market. All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to You AreSpecial, a local nonprofit that operates a food pantry to feed the hungry in the Orange community. This week we’ll preview the event with Co-Founder Chef Greg Daniels of Provisions Market and Haven Gastropub.

Time to set sail for the 5th annual Celebrity Cruises Great Wine Festival. The festivities on Saturday afternoon, May 2nd will feature unlimited tastings from more than 30 exceptional wineries, breweries and spirits, fine cuisine, a silent auction and live musical entertainment. The event benefits the Legal Aid Society of Orange County and Community Legal Services. Celebrity Cruises’ Sommelier ChanelleDuarte and Executive Chef David MacLennan of James Republic restaurant in Long Beach join us to preview the benefit.

It’s seemingly always tomato planting time somewhere in the U.S. From striped heirlooms to golden cherry tomatoes, and everything in between to be found at your local farmer’s market tomatoes are creating “Tomatomaniacs” everywhere. Now, Scott Daigre, the founder of the wildly popular, “Tomatomania” annual seedling sale in California, has teamed up with Jenn Garbee to bring the reader a beautiful and fun guide to growing, preparing and cooking tomatoes, with TOMATOMANIA! AFresh Approach to Celebrating Tomatoes in the Garden and in theKitchen. Scott is performing a cooking demonstration at the L.A.Times Festival of Books, Saturday afternoon, April 18th. He’s our guest.

ChocXO “Bean To Bar Chocolatier” starts with fine flavor cacao beans from Central and South America. ChocXO believes in the quality of the bean above all else. They process them using the latest technology and highest quality raw materials locally in their Irvine factory. From this incredible liquid chocolate ChocXO creates their own chocolate bars, filled chocolates, chocolate bark, and other chocolate specialties. The factory is available for tours Tuesday through Saturday. ChocXO Partner and General Manager Armon Demarco is our guest.

Del Frisco’s Grille’s (Irvine Spectrum) Executive Chef Sarah Daniels is joining forces with San Clemente’s award-winning craft brewery, Left Coast Brewery, to present a special beer pairing dinner on Monday, April 27th. It’s four-courses along with four Left Coast Brewery pairings for a modest $35.00 per person. The menu for the evening is a total original created for the event by Chef Sarah, the first female executive chef in the Del Frisco’s Grille system. Chef Sarah Daniels and Shawn Hadjis of Left Coast Brewing Co. (Director of Sales and Marketing) join us with a preview.

All of this and lots more absolutely incredible deliciousness on Saturday’s show!

In celebration of National Grilled Cheese Month in April Provisions Market (Chef Greg Daniels) and OC Baking Company (Dean Kim) will join forces to once again host The Big Cheese, Orange County’s grilled cheese festival and competition. Event Co-Founder Greg Daniels and his fellow Orange County Chefs will compete for the title of “TheBig Cheese” on Monday, April 20th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Provisions Market. All proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to You AreSpecial, a local nonprofit that operates a food pantry to feed the hungry in the Orange community.

OC Baking Company Master Baker Dean Kim will supply locally produced freshly baked bread to the competing chefs. The competitors will present their own spin on the classic grilled cheese sandwich that festival attendees will sample and then vote on.

This year, the professional chefs will be joined by one ProAm competitor who will be selected by event organizers in an Instagram contest. The winning entry will be announced Friday, April 17th and the ProAm contender for “The Big Cheese” will participate in the festival on Monday, April 20th.

Chef Greg Daniels (just back from France) of Provisions Market and Haven Gastropub joins us with all the needed 411.

Time to set sail for the 5th annual Celebrity CruisesGreat Wine Festival. The festivities on Saturday afternoon, May 2nd , in honor of Drink Wine Day, will feature unlimited tastings from more than 30 exceptional wineries, breweries and spirits, fine cuisine, a silent auction and live musical entertainment. Within the benefit Celebrity Cruises will also host Celebrity’s Wine Lounge featuring Jackson Family premium wines. The event will take place at Hangar 244 in the Orange County Great Park, the first great metropolitan park of the 21st century, located in the heart of Orange County.

The event benefits the Legal Aid Society of Orange County and Community Legal Services who provide free legal services to those in the community who would otherwise be denied access to justice.

It’s seemingly always tomato planting time somewhere in the U.S. From striped heirlooms to golden cherry tomatoes, and everything in between to be found at your local farmer’s market tomatoes are creating “Tomatomaniacs” everywhere.

“I want people to grow tomatoes,” says Daigre, “but I wanted to create a book that guides people in a fun way, and not get so serious about success. It’s about the challenge – and sometimes it IS a challenge.” Daigre doesn’t sugar coat things, either. TOMATOMANIA! is a reality gardening book. Sometimes you’ll have a good year, sometimes…not so good. But Daigre makes sure anyone, from beginner to seasoned gardener, will have fun while they try.

Scott is performing a cooking demonstration at the L.A.Times Festival of Books, Saturday afternoon, April 18th at 3:30 p.m. on the Cooking Stage.

Scott Daigre is our guest.

Craving chocolate? Who doesn’t?

ChocXO “Bean To Bar Chocolatier” starts with fine flavor cacao beans from Central and South America. ChocXO believes in the quality of the bean above all else. They process them using the latest technology and highest quality raw materials locally in their Irvine factory. From this incredible liquid chocolate ChocXO creates their own chocolate bars, filled chocolates, chocolate bark, and other chocolate specialties. The factory is available for informative tours Tuesday through Saturday.

ChocXO Partner and General Manager Armon Demarco is our guest.

ChocXO is the brainchild of Richard Foley, a third generation chocolate guy. Richard literally bleeds chocolate. For the past 30 years, Richard has immersed himself in the chocolate industry. From distribution to manufacturing, he’s about done it all.

“Come visit our Irvine factory and look through our viewing windows and see our factory for yourself. Take a tour while you’re here or just stop in to buy a chocolate bar. We’re proud of what we’re doing and look forward to sharing it with you.”

Del Frisco’s Grille’s (Irvine Spectrum) Executive Chef Sarah Daniels is joining forces with San Clemente’s award-winning craft brewery, Left Coast Brewery, to present a special beer dinner on Monday, April 27th. It’s four-courses along with four Left Coast Brewery pairings for a modest $35.00 per person. The menu for the evening is a total original created for the dinner by Chef Sarah, the first female executive chef in the Del Frisco’s Grille system.

Left Coast Brewing Co. is a family-owned craft brewery in San Clemente specializing in IPAs and ales. All eight of the year-round craft beers available at the popular Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co. restaurants in Orange County and beyond are brewed by Left Coast Brewing Co.

One of the courses at the Craft Beer Dinner on May 27th is cioppino with mussels, shrimp, chorizo and a rich tomato broth paired with Left Coast’s Red Tide. Red Tide is a seasonal American Belgian-style Red Ale.

Chef Sarah Daniels and Shawn Hadjis of Left Coast Brewing Co. (Director of Sales and Marketing) join us with a preview.

Left Coast Brewing Co. primarily distributes beer to bars and restaurants in kegs and bottles. The brewery also produces 8 full-time beers for the Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co. restaurants. They project to produce 15,000 barrels of beer in 2015.

They also operate a Taproom at The Brewery in San Clemente that is open at night on Weekdays and extended hours on Weekends. All of the year-round styles and the current seasonal beers are available to sample in 5 oz., 10 oz. and 16 oz. pours. All beers are available in half-gallon growlers to go.